Method of making partial oxidation products



{Illllllll atv-2 J. H. .JAMES original Filed'ootfzl MTHOD OF MAKING PARTIAL OXIDATION PRODUCTS May HO, 1932.

' besse". @was This. applicabile y vpenl dingfapplication ,Serialfw 'No2 745,025., filed,l October 21,111 924, andi relates especiallyfto the 4' Patented May 1f),` 1932 i ,11 "ITT:

y ,i A ,zT-*.4 c 'l lThefigur-c is aldi'agrammatic;vxewfshdwmg,.1 *one -form'offapparati srforrarrylng out invention;

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partial i"'o da'tiom pressure;

nderff-superatrnospherici ffsaturatedfhydrocarbon gases ofi` I theineth'anef Vseries whijch@ arei gaseous 4at nor-,r` mal temperatures 'andp'ressures and .are;heav,\. 1er than "methane, for 'example,zilbutane, pro,- 1

` Apane, etc., jor@gaseous,mixturesgcontaming such heavier -merfibers ;`ianfd;.lfurtherzito using relates to the partial oxidation,'ofrhydrocani therein lessfree oxygen than theory requires.

'As' stated in*thatapplication,Zth'eLin'YntiQn ,replace the amount taken out 1n the cycl1ng, `and maintaining a substantmlly unlform set bons',` preferably fifi?? gaseousi form, though it maybe in 'vapor-form lor in amixtur'e of both apparatus, while at the same tlme vsubJectmg `the major portions of any one mlxture to reforms. For example, I1 may employ?natural.,l gas'whether dry or Wet, or gaseous'hydrocarbonsfrom lany source, fas' for example, coke oven gases, the'ga'sfrom the low temperature coal carbonization*processes, ord'the gaseskh from' the cracking 'of petroleumwoils `which Y carry both saturatedgaseous Vhydrocarbons,

aswell as unsaturated hydrocarbons belo11r `v` ing to the olefin series.

I may alsofvaporize liquidhydrocarbonsV and mix the' vapor with gasesy which are gaseous 'at normal temperatures and pressures, or may use the vapor alone in the procf ess with air oroxygen admixture, etc. I also' may add Water vapor or steam to the mixture before it reaches the reaction zone. I mayV also apply the method'to liquefied or 'partially liquefied gases, as forexample, liquefied propane-butane or* liquid ethane-propane mixtures. In such case, the gases when released from this pressure, pass into gaseous form at lower pressures, and are mixed in this form with air or oxygen in my process. In all eases, the hydrocarbon-air mixture is' in gaseous phase when treated, whether a true gas is used or a hydrocarbon vapor or a mixture of both.

. of times, thus OFFICE nea, ,rENNSYLVANIA,` AssreNon 'ro cLAaENcE r.

ARTIAL OXIDATION PRODUCTS rial No. 745,025. Divided and chilr application tiledv February ses; serial-No. 340,367, a

,hydrocarbons preferably in gaseous form, the amountof such industrial products obtained in one passage over the catalyst'ls relatively small, as the time' of sojourn in the active catalytic region should be low, due to the decompositionof theformaldehyde if the time of sojourn is at all extended.

,To overcome this diiiiculty, one feature of thefinvention described and claimed in the `parent application Serial Number 745,025 relates'toreturning the maj or portion of the gas and oxygen, or vapor and oxygen, or gas,

vapor and oxygen mixture in the tail gas to a catalytic inlet for repeated treatment, adding lfresh gas or vapor or both and oxygen to oftemperature and pressure conditions in the peated passage through a catalytic zone. If,

.Ito overcome this difliculty, an extended series of catalytic furnacesis employed with scrubbing systems between them, so that the mixture after passing through the first catalyst is passed through the scrubber to take out the industrial product, and then assed on to another catalytic furnace an series, with or'without adding fresh va or so through a I have found that I can carry out this o eration with one reaction zone and after ta ing out the industrial product or part thereof from the tail gas, can return the remainingexit gas or the major portion thereof to the apparatus, adding fresh gas or vapor or both with oxygen or air to replacethe portion or portions removed, and can maintain substantially constant conditions in the system,

so that. any one portion ofthe mixture will cycle through the apparatus `a large number greatly increasing the recovery at fa'irly low The total -amounts withdrawn are preferablyequal tothe volume of fresh mixture added in each cycle, and of course, the smaller ,the volume of tail gas discarded, the smaller will be the volume of fresh inlet mixture and the greater the number of times 'which the major .portion of the mixture will cycle through the catalyst, thus giving a greater conversion of the intermediate oxidation products by the-oxygen of the mixture. -By tail gas 1n this connection, I mean the gas remaining after the taking out of the condensible products from the mixture passing from the catalytic furnace.

Other features of the invention described and claimed in the parent application, Serial Number 745,025 relates to the use therein of intensified oxygen, that is, oxygen in a more active form than that in air at atmospheric pressures; in using a short'time of sojourn in contact with the catalytic material; in controlling the temperature in the reaction zone; in applying heat to the mixture and regulating the same; in applying pressure and varying it in the supply system. It will be understood that the cyclic operation and other sub- 1 ject matters described but not claimed herein is claimed in the co-pending arent a plication Serial Number 745,025 ed Octo r 21, 1924.

I will now describe the form of apparatus shown in the drawings, it being understood .that this may be varled within the scope of my invention.

In the drawings, 2 is an air pump and 3 is an ozonizer through which the air may be passed to increase the activity of the oxygen in the air stream. 4 is a valved bypass around the ozonizer, so that the air may be passed direct into the system without passing through the ozonizer, whenever desired. The air then preferably passes to a constant pressure device 5, having a connected liquid vessel 6 with a small exit 7. From the constant ressure device, the air passes through tuiie 8.

vhaving a valve at 9 and past a visibleiow meter 10 of the lass tube liquid type, and into a mixer 11. or both passes to a pump 12, thence to a constant pressure device 13, having one tube leading into the lower part of the li uid in a vessel 14, with a small exit 15, at w ich the surplus may-be taken off and may be' burned. From the constant pressure device 13, the hydrocarbon gas or va or or both passes through tube 16, valve at 16a, through visible ow meter 17, and thence into the supplyv tube 8 leading to the mixer.-

From'the tail gas pump 18, which is a circulating pump, a tube '19 leads to a constant pressure device 20, havin one tube connected to a liquid vessel 21, wit lupper small outlet 22, from which a small proportion of thetail gas is taken ofi' and may be burned if it is combustible. From constant pressure device 20, a tube 23, valved at 24, leads to fiow meter 25, and thence to the supply pipe 8 and e supply of gas or vapor the mixer 11. The mixer is preferably prov vided with a series of bailles giving a tortuous course to 'the mixture and insuring betterl nace 31, this having' afseries of holesthrough which the mixture enters the furnace chamber.` This bottom is heated by gas burners 32, the supply of which is.valved-, so that the preheating may be carefully regulated to supply the requisite amount of heat tothe mixture without raising the temperature too much or 'beyond the desired limit in the catalytic. zone. The temperature must be carefully regulated andheld within certain limits, and the proportions of air with gasloiI vapor, or both, must be carefully regulated, all as in my previous filed applications. The preheated mixture. thus regulated passes through a catalytic screen 33, having in contact therewith or` adjacent thereto a thermocouple leading to an external indicator 34, by which the temperature can be seen at any moment.

The catalyst preferably consists of the complexoxdes or compounds of metals having 'a varying valence. All .parts of the complex may consist of oxides of the same metal or .of different metals. For example, an excellent catalyst in this connection consists of the so-cnlled blue oxides of molybdenum which contain molybdenyl molybdenate (MoOgMoOR) and molybden l molybdenite, und are prohably'all chemca compounds of two or more oxides of mol bdenum representing different states of oxi ation. These complexes ma be regarded as salts, that is, compounds o one or more basic with one or more acid oxides.

Other complexes of value for such catalysts are chromic chromate, CrgOsCrOa, tungsten tnngstate, VVO2WO lthe manganese complexes, the vanadium complexes, etc.

The basic and acid parts of these complexes may be formed from oxides of di'erent metals, in which case, each metal or group of metals used should possess varying valence. lilxalmplesV of this class are:

Uranyl uranate UOZUO, .Cobalt molybdate COOMOOS Cobalt molybdite CaCl/i092 Di-uranyl vanadate (U02) V205 etc.

These metals whose complexes I prefer to employ as the acid part of the catalyst, since I have found them to be of high activity in this field, are the meta-ls of high melting vformed in the bottom of the catalytic fur-` 'point low-atomic-volume metals having an side of the third peak, descending side of thefourth peak and the vdescending side of further peaks developed since the date of this diagram. The class includes the following metals: titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, zirconium, niobium, mol bdenum, tantalum, tungsten and uranium.

he basic oxides may be the lower oxides of these metals or may be' the oxides of iron, copper, nickel,

\ lauthanum, cobalt, thorium and the eight or nine rare earth metals. In both acid or basis portions there may be, ofcourse, two or more of these combined.

The upper part of the furnace vessel 31 preferably projects above the enclosing furnace chamber 35, and its top portion 36 is preferably cooled as by air blasts or water cooling or in any desirable manner (not shown). The catalyst also should be as thinas possible to give a very smalltime of sojourn of the mixture therein, and the vmixture should be taken away from the catalyst and cooled as rapidly as possible to avoid decomposition of the products after formation. The time of sojourn should be between one-quarter of a second and four seconds, and is preferably less than one second. From the upper por! tion of the catalytic chamber, a connection 37 leads through a condenser 38, having the proper water or other liquid connections 39 and`40. There is preferably a counterflow of the cooling liquid upwardly through this condenser around the coiled pipe leading through it, and the pipe 37 then leads into a water scrubber 41, where the tail gas is in direct contact with water. This scrubber is s hown as of the bulbed tube variety, and'is preferably chilled, as with ice.' From this scrubber, the tube 42 leads the tail gas through an ice-cooled trap 43, and into an ice-cooled water` scrubber 44. From this scrubber, the gas passes through tube 45 and through a samphng pipette system 46, by which the gas may be sampled at any time,

' this having suitable valve connections as usual in such samplin types of pipettes. From this sampling device the tail gas may pass through a water scrubber or scrubbers 47 of the bulbed type shown at 41 and thence to the pump, or it maybypass to a scrubber 48 ofthe chemical type, such as vessels containing NaH SO, (if desired, and thence to the tail gas pump 18. Thegas may also pass directly from the bulbed water scrubbers to the ump.

VThe pumps are all (preferably of the vari- 'able speed variety an the proper speeds-are given them to'keedp the proportions, pressures, s eds, spee of flow, etc. fairly constant a r an equilibrium has been established in the apparatus. l

. by regulating the take-,off caps.

In starting the apparatus, I preferably applyheat to the furnace and cycle through the entire apparatus the gas or vapor or gas and vapor mixture without oxygen or air,

tions of air and hydrocarbon are attained,

and equilibrium is established. This can be readily ascertained by analyzing the tail gas taken off. When this tail gas taken oliI is substantially uniform in character, the apparatus is in complete operation and the regular process proceeds under substantially constant temperature and pressure conditions, the ltemperature being regulated by regulating the burners, supplying external heat to the mixture, and the pressure being regulated During the preparatory. operation, the temperature is preferably graduall raised. If airfis used at ordinary atmospheric'press re, the mixture should be in proportion o one volume of gas or gas and Vapor to not over three and one-half volumes of air.A In case I use intensilied oxygen either by supplying pure oxygen in whole or in part or by running the apparatus under pressure,\the proportions should not rise above 500 C. and in any case Consequently, the operation should not be started with the complete mixture until later in the starting operation. I will now describe certain experiments with such appa- The thickness of catalyst layer inthe first grams, of which 311 grams was molybdenum trioxide. This oxide usually changes into a set of tests was 1.27 cm. and its area 730 sq. cm. The total weight of catalyst and asbestos on which it was deposited was 385 complex mixture ofthe blue-oxidesof molybdenum together with some molybdenum dioxide. Y Froml this data, the time of sojourn of any test isv calculated las being the time it takes an I imaginary Vlayer of gas, one molecule thick, to pass through. the catalyst layer. That is,

the length of travel between the screens holding the catalytic mass in place in the test described. The ozonizer was bypassed in the following experiments:

The first set of testa The first test was a straight flow with no cycling. The gas used was a dry natural gas containing 85 to 90% of 'methane The thickness of catalyst 1.27 cm.; area 730 sq. cm. The mixture was sixv liters of gas per minute mixed with six liters of air per minute. The time of run was ten hours; time of so was 30.8 grams; that paratus.

The temperature at the 425 C. The

sojourn 1.8 seconds. center of the catalyst wasl amount of methane fed in was approximately 2570 grams.

On analyzing the gas beyond the scrubbvrs, it was found to contain the following by volume:

. l Per cent Carbon dioxide Oxygen 6:4 Unsaturated hydrocarbons 1.2 Carbon monoxide 1.2

thebalance being largely methane, nitrogen, etc.

The formaldehyde recovered from the Tite second test In this test, the total gas passing through the catalyst per minute was the same asin the preceding, but was made up as follows: 2 liters of fresh methane, 2 liters of fresh air,

4,-, 8 liters of return or tail gasfrom the scrubbers. v

This return gas was approximately twothirds of the total gas in circulation, onethird being discarded at each cycling before returning to the inlet from the scrubbers.

This method of feeding reduces the new hydrocarbon introduced, the total methane passing into the apparatus is now 857 grams in the ten-hour run. Other conditions were the sameas in the first test.

the balance being methane, nitrogen, etc.

There was recovered from the scrubbers 5.97 grams of formaldehyde which equals .70% of the methane passed into the apparatus. The methane oing to- OO2 was 15.7 grams; that going to nH2n was 17.1 grams; that going to CO was 42.8 grams; that going to CHZO was 3.18 grams.

This might be called 1 to 2 cycling; that is, the new mixture was one-half the return 0r tail gas. It will be noted that in this 1 to 2 cycling, more than twice as much formaldebyde was obtainedirom approximately onethird as much methane as was passed into the apparatus in the first test.

T he third test l In this case, the twelve liters of as per minute was made up as follows: 1 Iiter of fresh methane, 1 liter of fresh air, 10 liters of return gas.

The total methane passed into-the appaf ratus during the ten-hour run was 428 grams. Other conditions were vthe same as in the first test. In this case, the gas beyond the scrubbers was:

Per cent CO2 1.4 O2 6.4 CnH2n 1.0 CO 2.0 the balance being CIL, N2, etc.

The total formaldehyde recovered from the scrubbers was 8.64 grams, being equivalent to 1.98% by weight of the CH4 introduced. The methane passing to CO2 was 12 grams; that passin to CnH2n was 8.5 grams; that passing to O was 17.1 grams; that passing to CHZO was 4.52 grams.

In this case, we obtained approximately six times as much formaldehyde in a ten-hour run from one-sixth as much methane passed into the apparatus as in the first test, the cycling ratio being 1 to 5.

The fom-fh test In this case, the inlet gas was made up of three-fourths of ya liter of fresh methane per minute; three-fourths of a liter of fresh air per minute, and ten and one-half liters of Yreturn gas per minute. The total methane passed into the apparatus during the fivehour run was 161 grams. Other conditions were the same as in the first test. In the results, the gas beyond the scrubbers showed:

Per cent CO2 1.7 O2 2.3 CnI-I2u 1.2 CO 2.1

the balance being CH., N2, etc.

In this case, the total formaldehyde recovered from the scrubbers was 2.85 grams, being 1.77% by weight on the methane passed into the apparatus. The percentage of methane to CO2 was 5.5 grams; that to CnH2u 3.9 i

grams; vthat to CO, 6.8 grams, and kthat to CHgO, 1.52 grams. In the third test, I reached the largest yield at atmospheric pressure of formaldeyde based on methane, and I believe that thevlower concentration of oxygen an'd\the` greater dilution of the oxygen and 'methane in thegas stream were responsible for the fact that there was no improvement in. this 1 to 7 cycling, as compared with the preceding l to 5 cycling. This conclusion is further supported by the results of. the next test.

The fifth test In this case, the twelve liters per minute of inlet gas were made up as follows: .l/z liter fresh methane per minute, 1/gliter of fresh air per minute, 11 liters of return gas per minute.

The total methane passed into the apparatus ina five-hour run was 107 grams. Other yconditions were the same asin the first test.

In the results, the gas beyond the scrubbers showed:

v Per cent CO2 2 6 O2 2.3 CnHgn i- 4 I CO 20 the balance being methane, N2, etc.

The total `formaldehyde recovered from the scrubbers was2.01 grams, being 1.88% by weight of methane passed into the apparatus. The percentage of methane to CO2 was 5.8 grams; Athat to CnHgn was 2.4 grams; that to CO was 4.2 grams, and that to CHZO was 1.07 ams.

The results of this last test taken in conjunction with the set of preceding tests show vthat under the given set of conditions, a point of maximum formaldehyde production was reached at a cycling ratio of about 1: 5, with the air and gas at atmospheric pressure.

A run was also made to ascertain whether increased temperature would increase the formaldehyde yield. In this case, the time of sojourn was .995 second, the cycling ratio was 1.9 and the temperature'450o C., other represente -by introducing oxygen alone.

conditions bein as in the last test. The percentage by weig t of formaldehyde obtained,

as based on the methane, wasonly 1.59%.

Believn thatethe third test of the series obtainable with the relatively thick layer of catalyst kused and cycling at atmospheric pressure, I decided to change the catalyst to a thinner layer and to get the-effect of increased ressure by using oxygen instead of air. O course, increasing the pressure in the apparatus will increase the amount of oxygen vper unit of volume, and the same effect is obtained by introducing oxygen with air or words, it is desirable to bring intovthe mixture in Contact with the catalyst a greater the best percentage of product In other number ofjoxygen and ymethane molecules Min a given time. This., `is preferably done `by compressing the v methane with enough air to obtain` the best oxygen-'methane-molecularvolume concentration. rl'o obtain this effect, I made the following tests v where the catalytic la-yer was one-'half as thick as in the iirst` set ofvtests, and pure oxygen was usedinstead of air, a higher temperature being employed.

0mg/gen test No.5] Temperature 500 C. The inlet gas had the following composition: 1 liter4 per minute of fresh methane; 1/2 liter per minute of fresh oxygen (99%) 16 liters per minute of return gas from the scrubbers, approximately 11/2 y liters per minute being discarded betweenthe scrubbers andthe inlet before the new gases were introduced, this beingdone at the exit,y

from the constant pressure device for the tail gas.

duration of run five hours. The total weight of the methane introduced was 214 grams, other conditions being similar to those in the lirst'tests. In these tests, the composition of the gas entering. the catalytic screen was as follows Per cent Carbon dioxide 4.60 Oxygen 7.40 Olens (CnHn) 2.0 Carbon monoxide 3.47 Nitrogen (from the commercial oxygen used and from the natural gas used) 4.20

Methane and ethane 7 8.33 v

In the results, I found in the gas-beyond the scrubbers Per cent co. 5. 02 5. CnHzn 2.2 CO 3.8

the balance being mostly methane and some The time of sojourn was .574 second and the i N2. The weight of formaldehyde recovered from the water-scrubbing system was 14.26 grams, which is 6.65% on the weight of methane introduced. Of the methane, 16.2 grams passed to CO2; 7.1 grams to CnHZn; 12.2

' grams to CO and 7 .6 grams passed to CI-IzO.

the diluting efect of the nitrogen is reduced and almost eliminated.

If, instead of using oxygen, I employ air under pressure, the nitrogen is, of course, present, but by compression, I can attain largely the same as the pure oxygen results by bringing the same or even a greater number of oxygen and methane molecules into the volume at, say, a pressure of 100 pounds or more per square inch on the gas and oxygen entering the reaction zone.v

Oygen test N o. .Q

In this case, the inlet gas had: 1/2 liter per minute of fresh methane; 1/2 liter per minute fresh oxygen (99%) ;'19 liters per minute of return gas from the scrubbers, somewhat less than one liter per minute being taken out in a cycle, because of the contraction due to more marked oxidation in this experiment.

The time of sojourn was .5 second, the duration of the run live hours, 107 gra-ms of methane being introduced. The result showed in the gas beyond the scrubbers:

Per cent O2 Cul-I2n 1.4 OO 2.8

lil

the remainder being methane, N2, etc. The, composition of the gas entering the catalytic screen in this case was:

Per cent Carbon .dioxide Oxygen 23.68 Nitrogen 3.45 Olelins 1.35 Carbon monoxide 2.65 Methane, etc 60.97

The weight of formaldehyde. recovered from the water-scrubbing system was 11.55 grams, this being 10.8% of the weight of methane introduced. In this case, the methane attacked was 30.37 grams, of which 5.7 grams was passed. into formaldehyde, which vis 18.9% of the methane attacked. This gave a weight of yield of 38% of formaldehyde based on the methane attacked. Owing to the large volume change methane can notvbe calculated for the substances other than formaldehyde. Since this is caught in the water scrubbers and is not affected by the volume changes, this figure is fairly accurate.

Higher oxygen concentrations enable me to cycle a greater number of times, and to further increase the reduction of formaldehyde beyond that possible with air at atmospheric pressure. i

. Orygan'test No. 3

In this case, the inlet gas had .25 liter fresh methane per minute, .25 oxygen (99%), 19.50 tail as returned per minute.

is may be called 1 to 40 cycling. The time of the run was live hours and the time of in this; test, I believe that the distribution of the sojourn was about .50 second. The temperature was 450 C. The -total methane passed inwas 52.6 grams. .The exit gas' analysis l showed:

Per cent CO2 13.6 O2- 7 2 Cul-I2u 1.2 CO 3.0

the balance Vbeing principally CH'.l with some N2, etc. The totalformaldehyde recovered was 5.9 grams, which is 11.2% b weight of the hydrocarbon treated or 6% o? the hydrocarbon treated went to formaldehyde.

Oxygen test N o. 4

A run exactly like that of No. 3'was made,

except that the inlet gas mixture was saturated with moisture at a few degrees lower temperature. In this case, the exit gas showed:

Percent C02 .8 O2 8.4 CnHg,l 1.4 coA 3.2

T he totalformaldehyde`- recovered in this case amounted to 6.86 grams, which was 13% of the methane treated. hence the percentage of methane converted to formaldehyde was the product formed duringlthe time preceding the equilibrium period since at intermittent experimental work this should be included. In practical operation, however, this will make a negligible difference.

Org/gan test N o. 5f

In this test, the conditions were the same as in oxygen tests Nos. 3 and 4, except that a regular scrubbing recovery system was not switched in until after equilibrium had been established. This test, therefore,- represents the actual conversion under equilibrium conditions. In this case, the composition of the gas entering the catalytic screen was:

The ltot-al formaldehyde recovered was 7.16 grams, which is 13.7% of the weight'of methfine ltreated, hence 7.3% of the weight of o. In all the foregoing tests, I have included the methane was converted into formaldehyde. In this case, the methane attacked amounted to 19.25 grams and 20% of this passed into formaldehyde'. The Weight of formaldehyde obtained was therefore 37.5% based on the amount of methane attacked, v

0mg/gen test No. 6

In this test, I used a lower oxygen content in the system. The mixture was the same as that in the last tests, except that the inlet mixture contained .3 liter of methane per minute and .2 liter ofoxygen (99%) per minute. In this case the exit gas showed:

Per cent C()2 12.8 O2 l- 3.3

The formaldehyde recovered was 6.93 grams, which is 11.1% of the Weight of methane treated, hence the methane converted to formaldehyde was 5.9%. The mixture in this case was a safer mixture for actual operation than in the one preceding.

These tests show that to attain a high yield of formaldehyde, it is necessary to have in a given volume of the mixture as many molecules of oxygen and methane as possible Within the safe limits of `Working, hence these tests show the importance of working with air under pressure, in order to obtain this volume concentration, as the cost of pure oxygen is relatively high.

One of the advantages of taking out a portion of the tail gas after the condensation and removal of product from the cycle lies in the reduction of the nitrogen dilution Where air is employed.k One of the advantages of cycling lies in the carbon dioxide formation and its return to the catalytic chamber. This return increases the yield of formaldehyde by hindering further carbon dioxide formation, and also-makes it possible to work safely with higher oxygen concentrations.

It is important that vthe nitrogen dilution should not proceed too far, and this is one of the objects of checking out of the system a part ofthe tail gas after removal of the industrial product. It is also important to keep substantially constant conditions as to pressure and temperature after the system is in full operation. p

The system may be used Without a catalyst, although it is far preferable to use a catalyst, and oxides of molybdenum are especially good for this purpose. 0f course, there may be a plurality of the catalytic reaction zones included in the cycle, instead of one, as

v shown. If more .than oneis included, each should have its absorbing system, etc.

In this divisional application, I do not intendto limit myself to the cyclic type of apparatusnor to a plurality of catalytic layers,- nor to passing the stream more` than once over the catalyst in the broader claims. By

as in some of the steps Within the scope of the broader claims.

I claim:

.1. The process of treating saturated hydrof i carbons consisting of the methane series normaly gaseous and heavier than methane which g comprises mixing a gas containing freeoxygen therewith and passing 4the mixture through a heated reaction zone under superatmospheric pressure to form partial oxidation products. p

2. Ina partial oxidation process for the heavier and saturated normally gaseous hydrocarbons of the methane series, the steps comprising mixing a gas containing free oxygen therewith and passing the mixture under superatmospheric pressure through a reaction zone in the presence of a catalyst.-

3. The process of treating lhydrocarbons of the methane series normally gaseous, saturated and heavier than methane which comprises mixing such hydrocarbons under superatmosphericpressure with a gas containing free oxygeny in amount less than theory requires and passing the mixture through a reaction zone to form partial oxidation products.

4. The treatment of saturated hydrocarbons of the methane series normally gaseous and heavier than methane by partial oxidation which comprises mixing therewith a gas containing free oxygen and passing the mlxture under superatmospheric pressure over 100 pounds per square inch through a hot reaction zone to form partial oxidation products.

5. A partial oxidation process for normally gaseous saturated hydrocarbons of the methane series and heavier than methane which comprises mixing a free .oxygen containing gas under superatmospheric pressure therelill@ with and passing the mixture through a reaction zone to form intermediate oxidation products.

6. In a partial oxidation process for normally gaseous saturated and heavier than methane hydrocarbons of the methane series carried out under superatmospheric pressure, the steps of mixin a gas containing free ox gen with such hydrocarbons and passing tlie mixture through a hot reaction zone in contact with a catal st for a, period of time less than three seconds.

7. In a partial oxidation process for normally gaseous saturated and heavier than methane hydrocarbons of the methane series carried out under superatmospheric pressure, the steps of mixin a gas containing free ox gen with such hydrocarbons and passing tlie mixture through a hot reaction zone in contact with a catalyst for a period of time less than one second.

8. The process of treating by partial oxidation a gaseous reaction mixture of free oxygen containing gas and saturated normally raseous hydrocarbons of the methane series lieavier than methane and methane comprising passing the mixture under superatmospheric pressure through a hot reaction zone 10 to form partial oxidation products.

9. The process of treatin natural gas containing saturated hydrocar ons consisting of the methane series normally gaseous and heavier than methane which comprises mixing a gas containing free oxygen therewith and passing the mixture under superatmospheric pressure through a hot reaction zone to form oxidation products.

l0. In a partial oxidation process wherein aliphatic hydrocarbons of the methane series consisting of saturated heavier than methane compounds normally gaseous are chemically changed to aldehydes as a partial oxidation product, the steps consisting of mixing therewith in an amount less than theory requires for theproduction of aldehydes. a gas containing free oxygen, and passing the mixture through a hot reaction zone at supera-tmospheric pressure.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 

